


The earliest memory

by Intrepidloves



Category: FFXIV, Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: It’s my WoLs origin story that’s it, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-27
Updated: 2020-04-27
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:01:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23875123
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Intrepidloves/pseuds/Intrepidloves
Summary: going through the childhood memories of my WoL, Iphyra Aydairth. Plot is still...somewhat a wip?? There’s always room for change
Kudos: 1





	The earliest memory

**Author's Note:**

> It’s been a while since I wrote, and much much longer since I did an actual story, so please bare with me. Any critiques are more than welcome ... 👉👈

Gunshots. Each bang was so sudden there was barely an echo. Instead, there were screams of terror and pain that accompanied each pull of the trigger. There were so many, there was a hope you could hear the bullets fly next to you, just so you knew no one got hit. Just so you knew it missed you. It’d be so sudden— first running for your life and before you knew it, you were on the ground. There was no time to process the pain. It was a numb realization, ‘Ah, now it is my turn to die...’

Black scales flashed across her vision as the last remains of her tribe dashed to safety. Was there a place they could even go? She was too young to know, too young to run fast enough on her own. Cradled in a mother’s arms, she could hear the rapid heart beat violently against her head. A strong hand held her there tightly. It was suffocating. The smell of gunpowder and blood could not be masked by the faint flowery perfume she had come to love. 

Shock had a vice grip on her emotions. She could not even cry as she watched those around her fall one by one. Pale skin with its dark flecks dropped into a sea of red like dominoes. Such a scene would surely traumatize any young child, fill them with a sickeningly deep despair. If only it wasn’t the harsh start to a life of violence and loss. It was a lesson one should never have to learn, and never so early. 

——

The young Xaela girl opened her eyes to a starry night. Dark pupils dilated to take in every hint of light spanning across the dark sky. Bright white rings traced the edges of her iris, as if her eyes were remnants of stars themselves. 

“Awake already?”

She turned her attention to the hushed voice, looking towards the woman lying down beside her. Much like the rest of her tribe, her skin was pale as snow, decorated with patches of hard, dark scales. Horns curved around the circumference of her head like a halo, outlining raven black hair that beautifully complimented her light blue eyes. She gave her daughter a gentle smile, and reached forward to pet the mop atop her head. 

“You should sleep some more. We have a long day tomorrow...”

“Papa?”

The kind smile dissipated, quickly replaced with a frown drawn upon quivering lips. Her eyebrows furrowed as she looked away in pain. 

“...Go to sleep, Ibakha.”

——

The air was thick with the salt of the sea. It burned her nose and licked her hair. It was a boundless deep blue that stretched on before her. It was if she beheld the edge of the world.

“Isn’t it pretty, Ibakha?”

A simple nod of her head served as response. She was in breathless awe, letting the sway of the waves take hold of her movements. 

“Careful, you might fall overboard.”

“O—verboad...?”

“You’ll fall off the ship.”

“Oh...”

The two stood for several moments in silence, watching the waves break upon the side of the ship’s hull. 

“I wished to show you this later, when I knew you’d remember it. I wanted you to know it like I did...Not like this... Listen to me, Ibakha, the ocean is a beautiful place, it is where life flourishes. But just as the ocean gives life, it can take it, too. Be careful, always. Something beautiful can also be dangerous.” 

The young auri girl stared up at her mother curiously. She had no idea what those words meant, not really, but the sadness with those sapphire eyes was deeper than any body of water. So she nodded. She acknowledged her mother’s words, even if she’d never remember them. 

——

Her earliest memory are the trees. So large they reached above the atmosphere. So lush they covered the sky. Green like emeralds, and shined just as bright when the sun was at its peak. Next was the feeling of hunger. She could feel as the acid within her tiny body gnawed holes in her stomach. It was getting hard to move. It was getting hard to stay awake. 

She looked down at herself. Her small hands were covered in scales and drawn up into large claws. The other children didn’t have rough hands like her. They were hard and it was easy to hurt someone, so she had to be careful. How did she know that again...? It didn’t matter anymore, all she could think of was sinking her teeth into something, anything. She began to bite at her nails. Surely it would be ok to leave, to hunt? Claws scrapped marks along the think bark as she attempted to hold her own weight. Wobbly and unpracticed. It had been days since she last used her legs. Why was that...? 

Something moved in the corner of her vision. She carefully turned towards it, and her mouth began to water. A large beast on four legs, grunting as hooves dug into the dirt. It’s teeth were long and pointy, curling above it’s lips. It’s head was flat, and so was it nose. A large, flat nose that huffed with every other step. She wanted to bite down on its large snout, take her fill of its flesh... 

Right as she jumped towards it, it squealed and ran, trailing blood. She ran after it, only to watch as it fell to the ground with another yelp of terror. A large stick was lodged in its side, where it pooled its life’s essence. How—? It didn’t matter. Her work had been done for her. The young girl jumped upon it like a rabid animal, sinking teeth into flesh and ripping out chunks at a time. She barely gave herself time to breath between each bite. Her skin was dyed red and hair became matted down, claws dug into the beasts stomach, breaking skin, gnashing teeth and swallowing mouthfuls of meat— 

“HEY! GET AWAY!”

Not even the yelling behind her was enough to pull her away from her first meal in days, but a strong hand sure was. A large figure fuming at the desecration of his prey grabbed the child by the nape like a pup— 

“What the...”

She hissed and screamed and kicked and clawed at empty air as the hunter held her at arms length. 

“What the hell is this thing?”

“Sergeant, did you catch it?”

“I surely caught something...” 

A smaller man ran up towards his senior, stopping to gape at the small creature who had dared to steal their prey. Covered in blood, she flashed pointed fangs like tiny daggers and swiped red claws towards their faces. They looked towards each other for a moment before deciding to abandon the wild boar in favor of this new discovery. 

——

“It’s a child.”

“What?”

“It’s a child, you dimwits.”

A proud female Elezen stood before the two dumbfounded Hyurs, staring knives down into their small forms. 

The girl, still bloody and fuming, had been put into one of their spare hunting cages. 

“Take her out, unless you want me to put you in!” 

“Maunie, I don’t that’s a good idea.”

“Are you telling me you’re afraid of a KID?”

The taller of the two midlanders looked towards the cage. The girl bit the bars with the ferocity of a primal. 

“Yes.” 

The elezen woman rubbed her temples. 

“Fine. Fine. I’ll take care of it. You two go. Tell the Lieutenant.”

The men saluted her, and all but ran away from the wooden building. 

Maunie looked towards the cage and gave a deep sigh. 

“Now, lets give you a quick bath...”

——

“Let me get this right. You two killed a boar, then a small child began eating it right then and there, so you put it in a cage and left it with Chief Sergeant Maunie?”

“Correct, sir.”

The male Elezen looked at the two men with disgust. 

“Why is it always you two who find the most fucked up shit?”

The smaller of the two men looked downcast. 

“I wish I knew, sir...” 

The lieutenant rose from the seat behind his desk with a brief click of his tongue. 

“Bring me to the building. I’ll have a look at this ‘child’ myself.”

The two saluted their superior, and began in the direction of the woodwailer camp they left the two girls behind in. 

——

By the time the three men arrived, the woman was about ready to tear her hair out. 

Her skin was littered in scratch marks, pooling small beads of blood down her arms and legs. Her eyes were stretched wide with surprise and stress. The room had been ransacked, the table knocked over, chairs tossed against the wall, save for one within her hands. She was hunched over, supporting the woods weight and breathing heavily.

“Sergeant! What is going on here?!”

“Lieutenant Silvaire! Thank the gods you’re here. I’ve made a mistake, this is no child, it is a demon! Please, take it away!”

“Excuse me?”

“There! It’s over there! Just get rid of it!”

The woman pointed towards the corner of the small room. Huddled in a ball, the girl was shaking with rage and fear. Her hands flexed, flashing freshly sharpened claws. Her teeth were bright white against the brownish-red blood that had dried across her face and clothes. A long black tail wrapped across scaled legs that held close to her chest. 

The men looked towards her mortified. 

As much as his instincts may have screamed to stay away, against his better judgement, Silvaire was given no choice but to approach the small beast. If handling it as a child didn’t work, he assumed the next best option: approaching it as a wild animal. 

He walked forward, crouching down with each step, until he was on his knees before her, though still far away enough to avoid her swipe. Yet no matter how he crouched, still he towered over her. It had been hard to tell from across the room, but she was exceeding small. Much more so than any child capable of causing such damage should be. From this distance he could see the details of her face. Scales covered her cheeks and forehead, and small horns protruded from the sides and top of her head. It was clear now why she had been so strange to the other wood wailers: she was an auri child, Xaela. They were rather rare in Gridania. She was just scared, lost, and alone. Surrounded by strangers who had abducted her from a place she felt safe. Where was her family? 

She watched carefully as the man bent down further to her level, his long torso covering his knees. His skin was a dull brown, almost blue in tint, with raven black hair and bright blue eyes... why did that seem so familiar...? He steadily reached a gloved head forward. Slowly, very slowly he was coming closer. His voice was rough, but hushed. He spoke in a calming whisper...

“It’s ok, little one. We’re here to help...”

What was he saying? She couldn’t understand his foreign tongue. Yet somehow, she knew it was kind...

She relaxed herself, no longer displaying teeth and claws, but tears. They rolled down her face, leaving streaks along the dried blood. Tiny scaled hands reached out towards his, and in a gentle motion he scooped her into his arms. She grabbed tiny fistfuls of his uniform and buried her face into his shoulder as she began to sob. Unrestrained and uncontrolled, it wasn’t long before his shoulder was wet with tears and snot. She began to wail and shake, choking on her sorrow until her throat was sore. 

He gently patted her back as she did so, not daring to get up quite yet. His subordinates looked upon him with awe. 

“Lieutenant, how’d you do that?!”

He shushed them quickly, afraid to scare the child in his arms. 

“Get some food, water, and a blanket. We need to get her cleaned up and fed.”

“Yes sir!”

The three saluted in unison, leaving the two alone in the small cabin as they fetched supplies. 

“Now then, little one... just where did you come from...?”


End file.
